Governance: Time to Question Our Two-Party System?

“Across the aisle.” “Bipartisan support.” “Third party challenge.” These are some of the terms we take for granted in our political discourse. Are any of us (beside those devoted to, invested in or paid by the Democratic or Republican party) pleased, however, by the often total inability, especially at the national level, to get things […]

Helping Small Businesses Succeed: Initiatives from the Left

November 26, 2016, has been designated “Small Business Saturday.” This is a good time, then, to contemplate an area where both conservatives and liberals/progressives can probably agree: small business is extremely important to the US economy. How to support small business, however, is often a sticking point. While conservatives might argue that the “government needs […]

First Anniversary!

One year ago, I posted my first blog on WisdomWordsPPF.org! I thought I would provide a review of the topics and topic areas, to give new visitors a feel for what I have been covering and to help sporadic visitors to get caught up. (Note that there are overlaps in the following selections.) Posts on […]

Making Millions Off Others’ Suffering 2: The Way Things Could Be

In our previous Making Millions post, we examined a number of areas of American life that are negatively impacted by large corporations and their leaders. These entities and individuals have successfully pressured Congress for decades to pass legislation that favors them; whatever their individual psychological make-up or motives, many very wealthy Americans frequently make exponentially more money […]

Making Millions Off Others’ Suffering 1: The Way Things Are

We need to wake up to a harsh reality: much of what we see around us in the United States, which we often attribute to the free market or American ingenuity and resourcefulness, is actually creativity and money-making off people’s suffering and needs. As I have argued in past posts, other advanced nations do not […]

SPLC on BLM: Important Distinctions When it comes to Hate Groups

Let’s look from another important angle at Black Lives Matter (BLM), their message and goals, and the recent murders of police officers in our nation. As I have done in the past, I turn for wisdom to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), whose work I have followed and supported for decades. Recently supporters received […]

World Happiness Reports: Reflections on an AARP Interview

Who are among the happiest people in the world? Is that important? How happy are we Americans? I have mentioned the World Happiness Reports in past posts on good government, socialisms, and the American workplace (#4), arguing in part that many other nations rank higher than the US on happiness. I’m raising the issue again […]

Good Government versus Bad Government: Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bath Water

We Americans have a long history of ambivalence toward government at all levels. We have recently witnessed the stand-off in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon between authorities and anti-government protesters. Republican presidential candidates cry out for abolition of government agencies – and have been doing so for decades (recall Ronald Reagan’s frequent rallying […]

The American Workplace 2: Paid Leave

In our previous blog, we discussed job security and the absence of national legislation in the US ensuring it. In Europe and many other nations, as we saw, there is national legislation. However, the US does not have nation-wide laws that mandate paid time off for workers – sick leave, vacation time and holidays, and […]

The American Workplace 1: At-will Employment Continued

Over the next few weeks, I will be addressing issues having to do with the American workplace. Because work is such a vital part of most Americans’ lives, and because Americans spend so much of their time in the workplace, it is an issue of social justice: how people are treated, and how workplace practices, […]